Car News in India

Renault India would be launching three new cars, including a small car, in the Indian market by 2012-end, a top company official on Thursday said.

The three launches are part of the plans of the company, which is the fully owned subsidiary of Renault s.a.s, to introduce five new cars in the market, Renault India Vice-President (Sales and Marketing) Len Curran told reporters in Kochi.

A small car would be launched this year, while in the mini SUV segment ‘Duster’ would be launched by May-June next year and a mid-size sedan by next year-end. By 2015, Renault is hoping to be among the top three brands, he said.

Launching the new Koleos in Kerala, Len Curran said the state was an important market as the car penetration here was the highest in the country. For every 1,000 population, 40 people have cars in Kerala, which was much above the national average.

There are presently 14 dealerships in the country and plans are to touch 40 by the year end, 70 by mid next year and 100 by 2012 end. India is the first country where Koleos has been launched.

Besides Kochi, service centres and dealerships would be opened in Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram by this year-end. The company also plans to put up facilities at Mangalore in Karnataka, Indore and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh in another six months, N Krishnamoorthi, President, Dealerships Business, TVS & Sons Ltd said.

Priced at Rs 22.94 lakh (ex-showroom), Koleos is manufactured in Renault’s Chennai plant, which has a production capacity of 50,000 units per year.